Behind the Scenes
by Anonymous Girl Gamer
Summary: We all know Mario and Luigi from the games. But what goes on behind the curtains?
1. Part 1

**Hi everyone, this is Anonymous Girl Gamer! This is my first fanfic, and I'm pretty excited about it! Strictly speaking, the characters are OOC, but as it's implied in the summary, they are actors and actresses. I hope you like it!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own any of Nintendo's characters or games. Without Nintendo, this fanfic wouldn't have been possible.**

* * *

"Yet another Mario game," thought Johnny Hillis, better known as the famous Super Mario. "When will I ever do something different?"

For years, Johnny had been acting in the same game franchise. Unlike a lot of the others, he was one of the only actors they had used from the start for Mario's part. The only other examples he could think of were Waluigi, Peach, Luigi and Rosalina.

Now, he had been informed that they were filming cutscenes for the games _Super Mario 3D World_ , _Super Smash Bros_ and _Mario vs Donkey Kong - Tipping Stars_. It was common for different games to be filmed at the same time.

As expected, himself, Pauline and Donkey Kong would be the main characters in the latter game. Tears formed in his eyes as he remembered Pauline. Not the Pauline of nowadays with her glossy dark hair and curvy body. The original Pauline. The blonde Pauline. His Pauline. Of course, that wasn't her real name. She was called Martha Byrd in real life, Martha Hillis after they had wed. He called her Pauline, because all of the actors and actresses for the Mario series had a habit of referring to each other by their stage names.

It had been his first time in the filming business. He had been young, silly, optimistic, a far cry from the way he was now. The game was called _Donkey Kong_ ; he still had a copy tucked away in a drawer. That was when he had met Martha. She had a beautiful face and a personality to match. They had gotten married not long after they had finished filming.

They had been together for four blissful years, until a tragic car accident took her life. Johnny (nicknamed Mario) still missed her to that day. Whenever he left the house, he always kissed her photo beforehand, which he placed at the very centre of his mantelpiece.

He had been sent scripts to learn off. "What script?" he thought bitterly. "I barely get any speaking lines."

It was true. He may have been the main character, but he rarely said anything apart from "Mamma mia!", "Let's-a go!" and "Wahoo!". How ironic that Luigi, the underdog, had so much more lines, and was also the funniest of the two. And no, they were not brothers in real life. He was tired of being asked by fans if they were. Once they ripped off the moustaches and bushy eyebrows and removed the prosthetic noses, they looked nothing alike.

And no, he also was not fat. That was just clever padding around the stomach. And no, he was not Italian. He was American born and bred, as were Luigi, Wario and Waluigi.

He was tired of people seeing him as a cheerful hero when he felt the exact opposite. Then again, he had been doing the same job for so long that he often found himself using Mario's expressions in conversation. It was starting to scare him, the way he was slowly but surely losing his identity to a fictional plumber.

* * *

"Hey bro, cheer up!" said "Luigi" happily, the minute Mario entered the studio. "Isn't this great? We're in another game!"

"For the fiftieth time Luigi, don't call me bro," said Mario, irritated. Luigi was annoyingly cheerful off set. He liked the stage Luigi a lot more. He suited Mario's gloomy nature better. "And where's the joy of being in another game? It's just one more lineless part I have to play."

Luigi didn't like pessimism much, so he went off to join the others. He was extremely friendly, and was evreyone's best friend. There were only two actresses he didn't get along with, and they were "Peach" and her daughter in real life, "Rosalina".

Like himself, the actress for Peach had never changed, and how he wished she'd be replaced! She was unrecognisable from the red haired teenager he had known years ago. Her hair was dyed an unnatural shade of blonde, her lips were considerably fuller and her face looked suspiciously young for her age. She denied having any surgery done, but everyone else knew better.

As for Rosalina, she was a carbon copy of her horrible mother. She frequently tormented "Daisy" in particular, mocking her for being just a spin-off character, and laughed because they had given Peach a Daisy costume instead of including the Princess of Sarasaland herself in Super Smash Bros.

Other than those two women, he was fine with his job, even if it got monotonous sometimes.

* * *

"Daisy" sat in a corner of the studio, watching everyone else having fun. Well, everyone except Peach and Rosalina, who were gossiping as usual.

The world knew her as Princess Daisy, the tomboy, the sassiest of the lot. The actors, however, knew her as Daisy in the corner, Daisy who rarely spoke.

She loved her job, even with her shyness. She loved it so much, she would go to the studio even when she wasn't needed, like now, just to see how everything was going. It gave her a chance to be someone she wasn't, someone she had always wanted to be.

She wasn't the first Daisy. The previous actress had been fired for being too sweet for the part. The current Daisy had watched the cutscenes where the old Daisy had acted in, and it was obvious that she hadn't the same flair for acting as herself. She acted like a Peach knockoff. Daisy hated to brag, even to herself, but it was true, and even she, with her confidence issues, could see that.

It took a lot for her to be nice to Peach on screen. They hated each other, and Peach would always find a way to humiliate her.

She wished that Waluigi was her love interest in the games instead of Luigi. Luigi was nice off screen, but it was Waluigi she found the most attractive. He looked comically ugly with his hideous mask, but when it came off, he was actually quite cute, if a little too thin. Too bad they barely got any screen time together, and when they did, she was supposed to hate him.

She wished she wasn't so shy. Waluigi might notice her then. But she couldn't, just couldn't bring herself to talk to him. Every time she even saw him, she blushed beet red and avoided eye contact. There was simply no hope.

Another problem for her was Rosalina. Peach was nowhere near as mean to her, and that was saying something. Rosalina jeered at her at every opportunity, and made her life a misery, especially since she had been chosen over Daisy in both _Super Smash Bros_ and _Super Mario 3D World_.

It felt like a slap in the face. To think they had given Peach her costume and a wig, when Daisy had been waiting for a place in Smash for years. To think that Rosalina, her rival, had been included.

At this rate, she was going to lose her job. It seemed as if no one wanted the orange princess anymore.

* * *

"Bowser" was the newbie and the youngest actor. He was only eighteen years old, and the fourth person to act as Bowser. Not that gamers could tell the difference, since he was hidden underneath a costume.

He had to admit, he hated it there. Apparently the other Bowsers had quit as they couldn't endure the heat or the weight of the monstrous disguise. If he hadn't been so desperate for a job, he would have done the same.

Honestly, could the director not change the plot a little? Why did Bowser always have to kidnap Peach? Who would want to put up with her ditzy personality for more than ten minutes? Why couldn't she get better security? And also, why did she have such a high pitched voice? He had played _Super Mario 64_ , where Peach had spoken in her normal voice, and in his opinion it sounded much better.

If she was bad on screen, she was worse behind the scenes. He couldn't stand her bullying ways, especially towards poor Daisy, the nicest person there. The same went for the jealous Rosalina, who had an obvious crush on him. He stuck up for Daisy whenever he could, much to their disgust.

"Look, hottie, defend your little girlfriend all you want, who's _so_ out of your league, by the way. I don't care. Besides, I'm not bullying the little mouse, I'm just pointing out her many flaws. It's for her own good."

He didn't believe in leagues, he never had. All the girls seemed to fawn over his dark eyes, his shaggy red hair, his flawless pale skin. But he liked shyer girls, girls like Daisy. It didn't matter that she wasn't the most popular, or the most stereotypically pretty. He often tried to get her attention by winking or staring or saying hi to her, but to no avail. She looked down more than up, and it was hard to believe that she was the same person on screen, with her hands on her hips and annoyingly loud voice.

Somehow, he was going to conquer her. She was a challenge, no doubt about that. He wasn't used to being ignored by a girl he liked, and he wasn't going to give up that easily.

* * *

"Waluigi" was sick of it. Again, he had not been a playable character in _Super Smash Bros_. He wouldn't have minded that much, but why on earth were there non Nintendo characters in the game?

Usually, he would have just stayed at home when he wasn't wanted, but that day, he decided to make the best of a bad day and socialise with his fellow actors.

He chatted with his friends once he arrived. As he was laughing at a joke, he noticed Daisy, sitting on her own as always. He felt guilty for not speaking to her before. She must be a bit lonely.

He slipped away discretely and sat next to her.

"Hi," he said.

Daisy went bright red and said nothing.

"Wow, she really is shy," thought Waluigi. Then, out loud, "So... how's things?"

Daisy shrugged, keeping her eyes glued to the ground. It was tough to start a conversation with her.

"Anything wrong? You look a bit down."

She finally made eye contact with Waluigi. "No..."

"You sure?"

After a moment's hesitation, "Actually... yeah."

"Care to tell me about it?"

She puffed out her cheeks before saying, "Well... no, it's stupid. I'll bore you."

"That's okay." He looked as if he was about to leave, but Daisy didn't want that. It took every last ounce of her courage for her to say, "Actually... I'd like to talk."

Waluigi sat down again, listening.

"Do you feel... do you ever feel... how will I put this... overshadowed? Unimportant? That no matter how much you try to be a success, there is someone much better than you who will eventually replace you and you know you'll probably lose your job because of it?

Daisy's voice had gotten higher and higher until she was practically shouting. Years of pain and rejection finally took their toll on her as she sobbed.

Waluigi put his arm around her and replied, "Yes. I know exactly what you mean. But don't worry. One day, _we'll_ be the best. Our fans will want us in more games. And they won't be able to ignore them for much longer, not unless they want to lose out."

"You really think so?"

"I know so."

Waluigi was glad that someone finally felt the same as himself. This was going to be the start of a beautiful friendship.

* * *

 **Sorry if it was a bit depressing, and to all Peach and Rosalina fans, I'm sorry for making them jerks in this story. I actually love those two characters in real life. Please review!**


	2. Part 2

**Hi! I wasn't planning on adding another chapter onto this, but after a lot of thinking, I decided today to develop more on Peach and Rosalina in this fic. For those of you who don't know this was the first fic I wrote on this site and may not be my best piece of work! Still, I'm going to try and keep it to the same style. It's been a long time since the first chapter, so, I'd highly recommend you reread the last chapter if you haven't read it recently. Also, I decided NOT to answer reviews personally, since most of them are from a good many months ago and it would have felt weird. Thank you to all the people who reviewed, I really appreciate it.**

 **Thanks a lot to electropopluigi for favouriting! (this was especially exciting since I'd long given up hope of this fanfic getting a favourite!)**

 **Disclaimer: All characters and games are owned by Nintendo.**

* * *

"Awww, how cute. The two spin-off characters finally got together!"

"Peach" and "Rosalina" cackled at "Waluigi" and "Daisy", who had recently started going out. One day the Sarasaland Princess was sitting alone in a corner with nobody to talk to; then suddenly, she had the man in purple as her friend. And that was all they started off as. But romance gradually bloomed between them, as Waluigi began to fall for her quiet ways and Daisy's crush turned into something more, and... that was it. They finally became a couple after six long years. Much to poor "Bowser's" dismay of course, who still liked Daisy after all that time, and he avoided Waluigi as much as possible.

Peach was all confident on the outside. But on the inside... one could say she felt... insecure. She'd been different when she'd first started acting, with her red hair and her naivety. The cast members had been different too. There was the original Bowser for a start, a grouch who constantly complained about the heat of the costume, and Mario, who was the same actor as today, but happier, much happier. Of course his wife hadn't been dead then, so that most likely explained his change in behaviour. Oh, and there was Luigi too, who actually was pretty much the same as he was now.

Ah, good times. Times when she didn't have to worry about her appearance.

All she'd had to do was walk towards Mario when he rescued her at the end, and say a couple of lines. But that was all it took for her to become famous as Princess Toadstool of the Mushroom Kingdom, and that fame went to her head. She became obsessed with her looks; it started off minor. A little mascara to darken her ginger eyelashes and eyebrows, some foundation to cover the three freckles on her nose. After a few years she ditched her auburn hair for golden curls. She'd never liked her carrot coloured tresses anyway. After all, if she was stated to be beautiful in the manuals, then it only made sense to live up to that reputation.

But when the first actress arrived to act as a new princess, Princess Daisy, her insecurity wasn't just with her looks anymore, it was with her place in the Mario universe. When they'd introduced this new character to the series (or intruder, in Peach's eyes), and made her get kidnapped instead of Toadstool, the blonde was genuinely worried that she'd get replaced. Thankfully Daisy was out of the picture for a long time after _Super Mario Land_ , and Peach was back with not having to share the spotlight.

Until the early 2000's.

The Sarasaland Princess was back, as her doubles partner in _Mario Tennis_ for the Nintendo 64. And what else came back? Her fear. It wouldn't make sense to anyone else: Princess Peach was the most important female in the series.

Yes, but so was Pauline once upon a time.

From then on, she did her best to ruin Daisy's life in the video game industry. But despite her sweet demeanour, she didn't let Peach's bullying get to her. Unfortunately for the redhead, the industry was a cut-throat world, and she was fired not too long afterwards. Peach could barely conceal her glee when she'd found that out. She'd thought the orange princess was gone for good...

Only she wasn't. They were keeping the character of Daisy, just changing the actress. She remembered that day pretty well. The new Daisy wasn't very unlike the old princess in appearance, but had a much shyer personality. Everyone expected her to be useless at first... until they saw her in action. Sassy, loud voiced and tomboyish, she was, well, perfect!

So Peach transferred her hate onto the new girl, and sadly she didn't have the confidence to stand up for herself.

When her sixteen year old daughter Rosalina had gotten a major part in _Super Mario Galaxy_ later on in life, Peach was delighted. Her child in a game that became a huge success. Plus, she now had an ally to help her go against Daisy, which was the real reason she'd wanted her to try her hand at acting in the first place. She sometimes bribed the producers into using her in games instead of the orange princess, and made sure Rosalina taunted Daisy. When the fourth actor for Bowser started to like the redhead, Peach told her daughter to go and flirt with him so he'd lose interest... though it never really worked. How, she didn't know. After all, Rosalina was much closer in age to him than Daisy.

Yes, she was willing to do just about anything to make her rival's life a misery.

She snapped out of her daydream and sneered at Waluigi and Daisy once more before checking her makeup with her pocket mirror. All good... but was that a new wrinkle on her forehead? Well, she must get more work done on her face to remove it, then.

She heard a loud sigh next to her.

"You look fine, Mom," said Rosalina, reading her thoughts.

Maybe she was right, maybe she was just being paranoid... Or maybe her daughter was just saying that to make her shut up about her looks. An impossibly perfect face stared out at her from the mirror, but she never regarded herself as beautiful. No matter how many times her face had gotten injected, there was always going to be a next time.

"Mom? Are you listening to me?"

Peach nodded. To this day, she still wasn't sure who the father was, though she suspected it was that guy with the white-blonde hair she'd went to bed with after getting drunk at a celebration party. He was a charming, handsome young man who used to act as one of the many Toads, and she hadn't been thinking straight that night... Of course she was only going by the colour of his hair. Rosalina looked a lot like her mother, one of the only main differences being the fact that she was naturally blonde, so that guy was the most accurate guess. But she'd never know for certain. Not that it mattered.

All that mattered was her fame.

So when Daisy was kidnapped in _Super Mario Run_ , her worries returned. But, she'd stay positive. With Rosalina by her side, and a good deal of money in her pocket, things wouldn't go so well for the redheaded princess for much longer. She'd make sure of that.

* * *

Rosalina from the Mario games.

Rosalina the actress.

Maddie the girl from Brooklyn.

Rosalina, Peach's daughter. Or Maddie, if they were at home. Or Madison. If Mom was cross.

All these alter-egos; only one of them was real.

And that would be, of course, Maddie from Brooklyn.

She'd never thought she'd end up working as an actress: her main focus in life had been making friends and attending parties. Rosalina had been your average pretty girl: always a smile on her face, liked by everyone, including the guys.

But that was back when she was Maddie. Back when Mom was barely around because of her career, back when babysitters took care of her when she came home to their small bungalo from school. Not the ideal childhood, but good times nonetheless.

She used to wear her hair in plaits; her wardrobe used to be filled with jeans and crop tops. She used to have lots of friends at her doorstep; boys begged her to go on a date with them.

Yes, she was a normal teenager... except her mother was famous. But nobody could know that. Peach and all the other actors had signed a contract: once they were out of their costumes, they were ordinary members of the public. No exceptions. Not that Mom was ever at home that much, but when she was, she looked completely different from the Mushroom Kingdom Princess. Straightened hair in a simple braid, a lot of makeup to make her look less innocent and cute, less like Peach. And she never wore pink. Or long dresses. Always blue jeans and a plain t-shirt.

Mom hadn't told her this secret until she was fifteen, a year before she joined the video game industry. Rosalina had been shocked. The Princess she'd tried time after time to rescue throughout her childhood... was Mom? Awesome! But this couldn't be revealed, ever. And as much as she wanted to blurt it out to all her friends, Rosalina obeyed, because she was a good, obedient daughter. Because, even if she didn't agree with Mom, she would bully her into it, so what was the point in looking for trouble?

When she was sixteen, Mom had started spending time with her, and being nice. Almost too nice. And her suspicions were confirmed. Mom told her to get in the car one day, and she drove her to the studio she worked in. They badly needed someone for a game they were planning on making, she'd said. Someone pale, blonde and beautiful. And she fit the image perfectly. Plus she could work alongside her mother. Fun, right?

Not really. But despite her inexperience, Rosalina managed to get the part. She knew instinctively that this was important to Mom, so she tried her very best.

And that was it. One day she was a regular girl, the next she was an actress. Her old friends wouldn't have recognised her in a million years, both from the games and in real life. Mom made sure she completely changed her appearance and clothing since _Super Mario Galaxy._ She wondered if they thought of her sometimes, and her sudden disappearance from school, and her unexplained move of house, and the way she hadn't told them anything related to that.

But that was back when she was Maddie.

Now she was Rosalina, the calm, maternal adoptive mother to the Lumas. But she was also Rosalina the actress, the one they all detested along with Mom.

She didn't hate Daisy. She was quiet, she did nobody any harm. There was no reason to dislike her, unless you were jealous like Mom. Even if everyone assumed it was the truth, Rosalina didn't dislike the redhead at all. She didn't have a crush on Bowser either. There was no denying that he was handsome, but he just wasn't her type. She was more into tanned, dark haired guys. That was one thing that hadn't changed since she was Maddie.

No; her mother had forced her to feel this way about them. Mom was a little too obsessed with Daisy, in her opinion, along with her looks. But what could she do? She always obeyed her mother, and it wasn't a choice. Because Mom didn't love her, not really. Her babysitters cared more about her, she'd known that for ages. And if Mom thought her only child was giving her trouble, she'd gladly give all of her wages to the producers to fire her, if it occurred to her. Which it probably hadn't, or Daisy's name would have been forgotten at this stage, but it was best not to take any chances.

Rosalina the actress was Peach's puppet to get back at Daisy. She acted on set and she acted in real life. This was her new life and this was how it was staying.

And there was nothing she could do about it.

* * *

 **By the way, I know Pauline's important to the series, but there's no denying that Peach is more important. Also, I much prefer the newer Daisy than the older one, especially the newer voice, which I think matches her personality better. So I suppose this is weird, but I'd like to know your opinions on it. Please review!**


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